Ho Chi Minh City Travel Post
Ho Chi Minh City has gone by several different names during its history, reflecting settlement by different ethnic, cultural and political groups. Long story short, at the conclusion of the Vietnam War on 30 April 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army. Among Vietnamese diaspora communities and particularly the U.S. (which had fought the communists), this event is commonly called the "fall of Saigon", while the Socialist Republic of Vietnam refers to it as the "Liberation of Saigon". In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Gia Dinh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. The former name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts. Read moreÖ